What do you guys think is the best way to do this? Is it a matter of bringing in bigger name coaches, does it simply come down to recruiting, facilities, or is it something else? At the very least, we need PSU, UM, MSU, Wisky, and OSU to be ranked in the top 25 year in and year out.

Stop being one good team and 11 sucky teams. Simple.

Need to pay some assistants better money. The amount of money the B1G pays their coaches (assistants in particular) compared to other conferences id pitiful.

Stop being one good team and 11 sucky teams. Simple.

Derp

Sign a deal with espn.

Get better coaches, better recruits, better tv channel, do different style offenses, beef up the out of conference scheduling, dont pick up other scrub teams when you expand the conference, quit losing a high % of bowl games.

You're only as strong as your big boys. Sure, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin and maybe a few others in random years can step up and have great years. However, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska are all traditional top 20 programs. They have to be staples every year for the league to be strong, or at least 3 of them. Unfortunately, it's been OSU and the other 3 have all been somewhat down recently.

You have to look at the amount of churn in coaching staff in the Big Ten...that's what really drug it down.

Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State, and Purdue I can think of off of the top of my head have new coaches in the past 5 years. You can't swap out that many pieces and expect it to keep humming along.

ernest_t_bass;1543824 wrote:Sign a deal with espn.

This. Sign a multi-billion dollar contract with ESPN. Once the Big Ten network started, magically B1G respectability went down hill.

dlazz;1543840 wrote:You have to look at the amount of churn in coaching staff in the Big Ten...that's what really drug it down.

Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State, and Purdue I can think of off of the top of my head have new coaches in the past 5 years. You can't swap out that many pieces and expect it to keep humming along.

Yes, college football is all about coaching really. Saban, Spurrier, Miles, Richt, and then Sumlin, Franklin, Freeze, Malzahn and Pinkel are all really good coaches to be honest. These are all guys that can win on a very high level, I mean look at where the last five coaches have taken their programs. A&M has went from a solid Big 12 team to SEC power, Vanderbilt is decent now after being god awful forever, Ole Miss is decent, Auburn has went from 2-10 in a year to #4 in the country heading into the last game and Pinkel has Mizzou in the top 5 again.

The B1G has really only Meyer as far as elite goes, and he took a 6-6 team that promptly has won all 23 games as a coach. Dantonio, Peterson and O Brien are other good ones, maybe Fitzgerald too but that's about it. It's all about coaching

dlazz;1543840 wrote:You have to look at the amount of churn in coaching staff in the Big Ten...that's what really drug it down.

Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State, and Purdue I can think of off of the top of my head have new coaches in the past 5 years. You can't swap out that many pieces and expect it to keep humming along.

Normally I'd agree with you, but the schools you list don't really prove your point.

Penn State's problem is the sanctions, otherwise O'Brien has done an excellent job with what he was given.

Ohio State doesn't have an issue so not sure why they'd be in the list.

Indiana is always bad.

I'll give you Michigan and Purdue though. Neither school can seem to find the right coach it seems.

The B1G doesn't need to lower its standards, the NCAA needs to man up and force other conferences to raise theirs. That means no over-signing, real penalties for academic infractions, and standards for scheduling - that is after a certain date (for example October 31) you must schedule either conference opponents or automatic qualifying conference opponents in order to maintain your automatic qualifying status. It is a joke the way many SEC schools schedule what amounts to be a bye week this late in the season.

Fly4Fun;1543854 wrote:Normally I'd agree with you, but the schools you list don't really prove your point.

I missed another in Illinois.

Point I was trying to make is that Michigan, Illinois, and Penn State are typically ranked and compete fairly well.

They all happen to have new coaches.

Classyposter58;1543853 wrote:Yes, college football is all about coaching really. Saban, Spurrier, Miles, Richt, and then Sumlin, Franklin, Freeze, Malzahn and Pinkel are all really good coaches to be honest. These are all guys that can win on a very high level, I mean look at where the last five coaches have taken their programs. A&M has went from a solid Big 12 team to SEC power, Vanderbilt is decent now after being god awful forever, Ole Miss is decent, Auburn has went from 2-10 in a year to #4 in the country heading into the last game and Pinkel has Mizzou in the top 5 again.

The B1G has really only Meyer as far as elite goes, and he took a 6-6 team that promptly has won all 23 games as a coach. Dantonio, Peterson and O Brien are other good ones, maybe Fitzgerald too but that's about it. It's all about coaching

Did you just call A&M an SEC power. Lol. STFU.

National perception is early non-conference wins and bowl performance. This is a catch-22 for the B1G since they are well tied into excellent bowl games, many on New Year’s Day and many against opponents that finished higher in their conference. When they go 2-6 in the bowl season, it reflects a weaker conference.

Be more shady, dirty and have lots of $$$ flowing like the SEC.

Fly4Fun;1543854 wrote:otherwise O'Brien has done an excellent job with what he was given.

off topic I know, but Bill O'Brien could go winless and people would still say he's doing an excellent job.

Manhattan Buckeye;1543892 wrote:The B1G doesn't need to lower its standards, the NCAA needs to man up and force other conferences to raise theirs. That means no over-signing, real penalties for academic infractions, and standards for scheduling - that is after a certain date (for example October 31) you must schedule either conference opponents or automatic qualifying conference opponents in order to maintain your automatic qualifying status. It is a joke the way many SEC schools schedule what amounts to be a bye week this late in the season.

How is uniform scheduling a "standard raiser"? Just because other conferences are setting it up to mesh best with the BCS system doesn't make them worse. The B1G is just stubborn as usual

A conference could come out tomorrow and say they're playing their conference games first and all OOC in November and I wouldn't care, it's their prerogative (though that would be a peculiar one)

"How is uniform scheduling a "standard raiser"?"

Because no one wants to see Florida beat Georgia Southern by 40 in November....oh, wait.

ernest_t_bass;1543901 wrote:Did you just call A&M an SEC power. Lol. STFU.

Ha the last two years yes. Plus under Sumlin recruiting has been great

I can't believe no one has pointed out the extremely obvious answer yet. I guess I'll keep waiting until someone does. It's very, very simple.

It's really simple.
Win January 1 games.
Also, win overall bowl games, don't be under .500.
And, bigger picture, win the big name out of conference games. Beat ND, SEC, and Pac-12 games.

How they do that, better coaches, better players and better recruiting.

Manhattan Buckeye;1544054 wrote:"How is uniform scheduling a "standard raiser"?"

Because no one wants to see Florida beat Georgia Southern by 40 in November....oh, wait.

Who gives a shit what fans think?

ptown_trojans_1;1544288 wrote:It's really simple.
Win January 1 games.
Also, win overall bowl games, don't be under .500.
And, bigger picture, win the big name out of conference games. Beat ND, SEC, and Pac-12 games.

How they do that, better coaches, better players and better recruiting.

Finally someone said it. It's really that simple. Better players make better teams. Better players are not attending B1G schools.

http://lacrossetribune.com/sports/tom-oates-improved-recruiting-can-help-big-ten-s-image/article_995e330a-b527-11e2-b658-0019bb2963f4.html

Just one example. Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska only B1G schools with top 30 classes for 2013. SEC? 13.

carmen;1543828 wrote:Get better coaches, better recruits, better tv channel, do different style offenses, beef up the out of conference scheduling, dont pick up other scrub teams when you expand the conference, quit losing a high % of bowl games.

Sorry, but I said it awhile ago about needing better recruits